Asterism - Gems With A Star

The luminous star-like shape that many gemstones exhibit has fascinated people for hundreds if not thousands of years. Now, a comprehensive book on the subject has been written by German gemmologist and asterism.

- Cynthia Unninayar

To say that this extremely impressive oeuvre has been a labour of love would be a great understatement; it is more a life’s work. Taking nearly 30 years to complete, Asterism brings together, in one important and very weighty volume (literally, at 4.1 kg and nearly 900 pages), all the glowing aspects of these remarkable gemstones, including hundreds of dazzling photos and illustrations.

“In the beginning, the plan was to write a book simply about asterism,” confides Steinbach. “During the many years of the writing process, however, the book grew to include more information on the provenance of these gems in addition to their scientific and gemmological properties. And, we added more of the world’s most important gems and their major mining areas as well as lots of interesting stories about these mythical jewels.”